How is it his fault that KW has raided the minor league system of all its possible MLB-ready talent in 2010?

I'm not saying that is necessarily a bad thing, of course, but how does it fall solely on the player development staff when the top prospects from your system are used to bring in other pieces? Gio Gonzalez, Ryan Sweeney, Clayton Richard, and John Ely are all former Sox farmhands who have been dealt since 2008 who are having nice little seasons elsewhere in the Majors.

That may or may not be true, but what can anyone be basing positives about him? Those guys certainly didn't display the abilities they are currently showing or they wouldn't have been traded.

That may or may not be true, but what can anyone be basing positives about him? Those guys certainly didn't display the abilities they are currently showing or they wouldn't have been traded.

I don't necessarily think that's true. Gio and Sweeney were dealt to get Swisher, who is considered a failure around these parts because he got played out of a position and sulked like a crybaby, but has magically been an above average player at every other stop on his professional career. Richard started something like 22 games for the Sox in his two seasons here and was one of the big fish in the trade for the Ghost of Jake Peavy. Ely is the only who got away, I guess, since all we got for him was ****ty, ****ty Juan Pierre, but there was some logic behind that move, too. The Sox rotation looked to be deep and set for a while, so it's not like Ely had much upwards potential going into this year; at best he would have been #7 on the SP organizational depth chart, and the Sox were DESPERATELY in need of a lead-off hitter since Scotty Pods went crazy this off-season and confused himself with Manny Ramirez, so they overpaid for one from a position of supposed strength.

I don't know if this is relavent but I was listening to Clayton Richard being interviewed on the local radio the other day. He didn't exactly say anything too bad about the White Sox organization but he really emphasized how since arriving at the Padres he has been blown away by the coaching. There were things that he said the White Sox did not work with him on. Actually, I think the only nice thing he had to say was that Mark Buehrle really helped him with his pace on the mound.

Buddy Bell gets more praise for no accomplishment than anyone ever involved with the White Sox. As soon as I see some production at the major league level from White Sox farmhands he has had a role in developing, he will get credit from me. I still see that as a ways off.

You're more optimistic then me.

KW has done a horrible job running with the farm system. I see no reason for optimism until he's gone. This is his 10th draft and what do we have to show form the farm system.

I've been railing on this issue for years and I remember a certain individual who posts (or used to post here) who thought himself a minor league expert and basically insulted my lack of knowledge. He assured me that it takes years to rebuild a system and that Schueler created a mess to fix. I personally never had an issue with Schueler.

I do have an issue with KW's inability to realize the importance of having a productive farm system. I have my theories why things are bad, but don't follow it closely enough. All I know is the results of the last 10 drafts speak for themselves and this is pretty much GIGO--Garbage in, Garbage out.

So KW's inability to draft and devlop talent---or hire the right people with the right philosophies and the right scouts--to do that pretty much makes this upcoming rebuilding process a long, painful one.

At least this one individual should be quite happy. He said it's hard to maintain a good farm system when consistently picking in the teens and twenties with your first round pick. The way things are set up now, the Sox should have a few top 10 picks in their future. What's going to be the excuse when those guys fail?

It pisses me off to say it, but I think it's going to be a long, painful 3-5 years for Sox fans, unless of course they decide to deficit spend to get people out to the stadium.

I don't know if this is relavent but I was listening to Clayton Richard being interviewed on the local radio the other day. He didn't exactly say anything too bad about the White Sox organization but he really emphasized how since arriving at the Padres he has been blown away by the coaching. There were things that he said the White Sox did not work with him on. Actually, I think the only nice thing he had to say was that Mark Buehrle really helped him with his pace on the mound.

More evidence that the Sox are lousy at coaching and teaching at every level and phase of the game.